Dismiss modal view form sheet controller on outside tap

Question

I am presenting a modal view controller as a form sheet and dismissing it when the cancel button, which is a bar button item, is clicked. I need to dismiss it when I tap on

Answer 1

For iOS 8, you must both implement the UIGestureRecognizer per Martino's answer, and swap the (x,y) coordinates of the tapped location when in landscape orientation. Not sure if this is due to an iOS 8 bug.

- (void) viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super viewDidAppear:animated];

    // add gesture recognizer to window

    UITapGestureRecognizer *recognizer = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(handleTapBehind:)];
    [recognizer setNumberOfTapsRequired:1];
    recognizer.cancelsTouchesInView = NO; //So the user can still interact with controls in the modal view
    [self.view.window addGestureRecognizer:recognizer];
    recognizer.delegate = self;
}

- (void)handleTapBehind:(UITapGestureRecognizer *)sender
{
    if (sender.state == UIGestureRecognizerStateEnded) {

        // passing nil gives us coordinates in the window
        CGPoint location = [sender locationInView:nil];

        // swap (x,y) on iOS 8 in landscape
        if (SYSTEM_VERSION_GREATER_THAN_OR_EQUAL_TO(@"8.0")) {
            if (UIInterfaceOrientationIsLandscape([UIApplication sharedApplication].statusBarOrientation)) {
                location = CGPointMake(location.y, location.x);
            }
        }

        // convert the tap's location into the local view's coordinate system, and test to see if it's in or outside. If outside, dismiss the view.
        if (![self.view pointInside:[self.view convertPoint:location fromView:self.view.window] withEvent:nil]) {

            // remove the recognizer first so it's view.window is valid
            [self.view.window removeGestureRecognizer:sender];
            [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
        }
    }
}


#pragma mark - UIGestureRecognizer Delegate

- (BOOL)gestureRecognizerShouldBegin:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer
{
    return YES;
}

- (BOOL)gestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWithGestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)otherGestureRecognizer
{
    return YES;
}

- (BOOL)gestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer shouldReceiveTouch:(UITouch *)touch
{
    return YES;
}

Answer 2

I use it in this form without any problems neither on iOS 7.1 nor iOS 8.3.

- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
     [super viewDidAppear:animated];

     [self.view.window addGestureRecognizer:self.tapBehindGesture];
}

- (void)viewWillDisappear:(BOOL)animated
{
     [super viewWillDisappear:animated];

     [self.view.window removeGestureRecognizer:self.tapBehindGesture];
}

- (UITapGestureRecognizer*)tapBehindGesture
{    
    if (_tapBehindGesture == nil)
    {
        _tapBehindGesture = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(tapBehindRecognized:)];
        _tapBehindGesture.numberOfTapsRequired = 1;
        _tapBehindGesture.cancelsTouchesInView = NO;
        _tapBehindGesture.delegate = self;
    }

    return _tapBehindGesture;
}

- (BOOL)gestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)gestureRecognizer shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWithGestureRecognizer:(UIGestureRecognizer *)otherGestureRecognizer
{
    return YES;
}

Answer 3

Swift 4 version that works in both portrait and landscape - no swapping of x, y required.

class TapBehindModalViewController: UIViewController, UIGestureRecognizerDelegate {
private var tapOutsideRecognizer: UITapGestureRecognizer!

override func viewDidAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewDidAppear(animated)

    if (self.tapOutsideRecognizer == nil) {
        self.tapOutsideRecognizer = UITapGestureRecognizer(target: self, action: #selector(self.handleTapBehind))
        self.tapOutsideRecognizer.numberOfTapsRequired = 1
        self.tapOutsideRecognizer.cancelsTouchesInView = false
        self.tapOutsideRecognizer.delegate = self
        self.view.window?.addGestureRecognizer(self.tapOutsideRecognizer)
    }
}

override func viewWillDisappear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillDisappear(animated)

    if(self.tapOutsideRecognizer != nil) {
        self.view.window?.removeGestureRecognizer(self.tapOutsideRecognizer)
        self.tapOutsideRecognizer = nil
    }
}

func close(sender: AnyObject) {
    self.dismiss(animated: true, completion: nil)
}

// MARK: - Gesture methods to dismiss this with tap outside
@objc func handleTapBehind(sender: UITapGestureRecognizer) {
    if (sender.state == UIGestureRecognizerState.ended) {
        let location: CGPoint = sender.location(in: self.view)

        if (!self.view.point(inside: location, with: nil)) {
            self.view.window?.removeGestureRecognizer(sender)
            self.close(sender: sender)
        }
    }
}

func gestureRecognizer(_ gestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer, shouldRecognizeSimultaneouslyWith otherGestureRecognizer: UIGestureRecognizer) -> Bool {
    return true
}

}

Answer 4

Here is my version that works for iOS 7 and iOS 8 and does not require conditional swapping of coordinates:

- (void)handleTapBehind:(UITapGestureRecognizer *)sender
{
    if (sender.state == UIGestureRecognizerStateEnded)
    {
        CGPoint location = [sender locationInView:self.view];

        if (![self.view pointInside:location withEvent:nil]) {
            [self.view.window removeGestureRecognizer:self.recognizer];
            [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
        }
    }
}

Answer 5

I know this is an old question but this IS possible, despite of what the "right" answer says. Since this was the first result when I was looking for this I decided to elaborate:

This is how you do it:

You need to add a property to the View Controller from where you want to present modally, in my case "tapBehindGesture".

then in viewDidAppear

if(!tapBehindGesture) {
        tapBehindGesture = [[UITapGestureRecognizer alloc] initWithTarget:self action:@selector(tapBehindDetected:)];
        [tapBehindGesture setNumberOfTapsRequired:1];
        [tapBehindGesture setCancelsTouchesInView:NO]; //So the user can still interact with controls in the modal view
    }

[self.view.window addGestureRecognizer:tapBehindGesture];

And Here is the implementation for tapBehindDetected

- (void)tapBehindDetected:(UITapGestureRecognizer *)sender
{

    if (sender.state == UIGestureRecognizerStateEnded)
    {
        //(edited) not working for ios8 above 
        //CGPoint location = [sender locationInView:nil]; //Passing nil gives us coordinates in the window

        CGPoint location = [sender locationInView: self.presentingViewController.view];

        //Convert tap location into the local view's coordinate system. If outside, dismiss the view.
        if (![self.presentedViewController.view pointInside:[self.presentedViewController.view convertPoint:location fromView:self.view.window] withEvent:nil])
        {   
            if(self.presentedViewController) {
                [self dismissViewControllerAnimated:YES completion:nil];
            }
        }
    }
}

Just remember to remove tapBehindGesture from view.window on viewWillDisappear to avoid triggering handleTapBehind in an unallocated object.

Answer 6

I made a navigationController that auto dismiss for iPad

https://github.com/curciosobrinho/NavAutoDismiss

It is just the same code as above, working on iOS 8.

So, all the credits go to the people above.

I just did it to be more generic and easier to use.

You just need to copy BOTH files to your project

Import the header file (.h)

And use your viewcontroller (that you want to show) as the rootViewController.

How to use it:

//Import the .h file
#import "NavDismissViewController.h"

//Instanciate your view controller (the view you want to present)

YourViewController * yourVC = [YourViewController new];

//Instanciate the NavDismissViewController with your view controller as the rootViewController

NavDismissViewController *nav = [[NavDismissViewController alloc] initWithRootViewController:yourVC];

//if you want to change the navigationBar translucent behaviour

[nav.navigationBar setTranslucent:NO];

//Choose the Modal style

nav.modalPresentationStyle=UIModalPresentationFormSheet;

//present your controller

[self presentViewController:nav animated:YES completion:nil];

//Done